Basil I of Byzantium

Basil I "the Macedonian" of Byzantium (811-29 August 886) was the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 886, succeeding Michael III of Byzantium and preceding Leo VI of Byzantium.

Biography
Basil was born in 811 to an Armeno-Slavic peasant family in the Theme of Macedonia in the Byzantine Empire, and he became a bodyguard of Emperor Michael III of Byzantium after beating a Bulgarian champion in a wrestling match. He became Michael's trusted right-hand man, but he later found interest in another, Basiliskianos. When Basiliskianos was given the opportunity to become a member of the Imperial court, Basil felt his influence slipping away. While Michael and Basiliskianos were insensibly drunk, Basil and a few others killed them both, and Basil usurped the throne.

Basil's reign was one that was filled with warfare against the heretical Paulicians (who were allied with the Abbasid Caliphate) and the Arabs. In 872 the Paulicians were crushed, and Basil reclaimed Cyprus for seven years. He allied with Emperor Louis the German of East Francia and took Bari in 876, and Nikephoros Phokas the Elder conquered Taranto and Calabria from the Sawdanid Emirate in 880. He died in 886, succeeded by his son Leo VI of Byzantium (his least favorite son, whom he beat often due to thinking that he was Michael III's son) - his other son Alexander of Byzantium would later briefly rule.